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Elders’ Celebration

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Written by Ryan Strydom
The Krugers being ordained into Eldership

The Krugers being ordained onto Eldership

Last night at Central Cornerstone we celebrated God’s design for church leadership – specifically, elders and pastoral leadership. The evening was filled with mixed emotions as we said goodbye to Ian and Bernie Weeden, who are off to Nelspruit to continue the call of God on their lives there, and Barry and Charlene Ward, with their two daughters Taryn and Robyn, as they head off to Durban North to plant a church. We also celebrated the inclusion of Waldo and Anika Kruger on the eldership team, who were ordained by Greig Garratt from NewDay who is also a part of Tyrone’s NCMI team.

What a wonderful eve. It was great hearing the solid testimony around these couples – how they have pushed forward in what God has for them, how they’ve been so faithful, how they’ve touched lives. While it’s sad seeing some of the guys go, this is what the call in God is about – the apostolic, going where God wants the Gospel and the Kingdom to go, and being available for wherever He wants to send us.

The Weedens

The Weedens

The Wards

The Wards

After the ordaining and the sending off of the Weeden’s and Wards, Craig and Shaun told us about the movie and music escapades of these two couples which was really funny. So awesome to celebrate in this way!

UPDATED:

Download Greig Garratt’s message from the evening.

We’re Going Sailing Again!

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Written by Ryan Strydom

Galleon We're Going Sailing Again

On Friday night and Saturday morning this past weekend, the Cornerstone Elders connected with the Deacons, Leaders, Potential Leaders, Workers etc. of Cornerstone to “invision” us for the new year and chat about the prophetic season the Elders feel we are entering – a season of sailing in the “trade winds” of all God has for us!

The two key words for the time are “vision and strategy”, two works that are often misunderstood. In our context, what is meant by vision and strategy is that this is the best estimation of what God is saying to us now, and what some of the resulting implications are.

“We are called to dream wild and dream big!!! God’s dream for us needs to scare us, otherwise it’s not God’s dream but ours!” says the InVision pamphlet which was handed to the leaders.

The key passages and points spoken about over the weekend were :

  • Mark 6 – the feeding of the five thousand, with points made towards:
  1.  a Gospel commissioning (vs 7 – 13);
  2. how we need to move from concern to compassion (vs 33 – 37);
  3. how proper administration is necessary (vs 39);
  4. how we need to step into the miraculous (vs 41 – 43); and,
  5. how we still need to have a focus on the Apostolic (vs 45).
  • Joshua’s method of war – shouting to take a city (also see Rom 4:17, 20 – 22)
  • Nehemiah being a man of prayer
  • Isaiah 50 – 66 – it’s time to use the “trade winds” to plant new bases, nations and frontiers. We cannot remain trapped in the roaring forties or the doldrums!
  • Revelation 1 – 3 – we need a revelation of Jesus and His counsel / care for the local church
  • Acts 8 – evangelisation is key
  • Acts 2 – community, congregation and devotion. Marcus preached about this yesterday morning and it’s key.

The moving into the trade winds needs to be kicked off with prayer, which is why we are having a prayer and fasting weekend this coming weekend. It’s going to be a powerful time. Listen to Marcus’ “A Call to Prayer Sermon” preached last week for more on why we view prayer as important.

Works and Faith

A key word for our time together was the correlation between works and faith. Some of us have great works but little faith, some of us have great faith and little works. No need for us to feel guilty, but we need to ask God to help us where we are lacking.

Ultimately, faith comes from God and empowers us to perform good works. Some of us may feel we are in the doldrums or the roaring forties in our own lives and having faith right now is difficult for us. But it is God who is working in us and performing His will in us (Phil 2:13; Hebrews 13:20). If we lack faith, let’s ask God, who will give us all good things!

What’s important never changes

As we move into the future it’s great to hear how the elders feel about what never changes and what can change. The Gospel will never change and Cornerstone will always preach the Gospel, no matter what’s going on. While meeting times, methods of serving, logistics, events and such things can change; and while our evangelism strategies should change, as well as anything that breaks down or works against the apostolic calling of Cornerstone – the Gospel and the message of the Gospel that Cornerstone will preach, teach, sing, write about, talk about and live in will never change. Jesus Christ will always remain the same and be the centre of Cornerstone’s life.

UPDATED:

Download Marcus’ message on the InVision Friday night

Download Marcus’ message on the InVision Saturday morning

Download the ‘Orientation’ sermon from Sunday morning

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Bible School Sign Up

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Click here to find out more about Term 2’s subjects.

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Bible School – 2013 Term 1

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Bible School is kicking off again at Wednesday Night Life at Bedfordview. Join us as we give our our best effort to equip, prepare, resource and mature all of our family in knowing the word, and then knowing how to make it effective in our lives. These times can be more interactive than Sunday meetings, giving opportunity to ask questions.


Bible School
Wednesday Evenings
Term 1 Orientation: 16 January
16 January – 12 March
7:30pm

Term 1 Subjects

DNA: Get to know Cornerstone Church
Get to know Cornerstone Church, learn about our vision, our values, ask questions and find out if we are the church that you want to join up with.

Love Joburg : Follow up
Meet new friends, pray for the sick, see the lost saved, be available to teach, and be Christ’s disciple, meeting needs in Jesus’ name.

Love Joburg : Training

Christology

2 Timothy

Leadership

Children’s Ministry Training

Volunteer Training: Sound, AV & Coffee

Finance Course (Applicants Only)

Paradigm Shift: Entrepreneurship training (Applicants Only – see this event for details)

More details of each course will be made available next week.

New Photos on the Facebook Page!

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Check out a whole set of new photos of events we’ve posted on the Cornerstone Facebook page

The Experienced Warriors Christmas Lunch – see the album here
DNA people who are now part of the Cornerstone family – see here
The November ALL SITES Celebration – see the album here
And the Appreciation Lunch with Leaders and Workers – see the album here

It’s been a fantastic month with lots of great things happening in the life of our church! Don’t forget to Like the Cornerstone Facebook page.

Celebrating Our Beautiful Children

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Written by Justine Engelbrecht

Yesterday, on Sunday 27th November, a special Children’s service was held, in celebration of our beautiful children.

Lance, Michelle, Roger & Deidre and their dedicated teams joined the children in sharing with us through song, dance and video what they had learned over the past year.

The Theme for 2011 for 3yrs to Grade 2 was “The Big Questions.”

Here are just a few of the children’s answers below. 🙂

Who is Jesus?

“The Son of God”, “Gods Son”, “The King”

What did you learn this term?

“Jesus is powerful”, “we have to love each other”, “God made the world and if we believe in him we will go to heaven”, “to respect God”

What Bible verses did you learn?

John 14:6 “Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life”

Why do we need Jesus?

“So we can go to heaven”

The grade 3 to 7’s put the Gospel into colours for us.

Collossians 1: 16

“Everything was created by God and for God” – God created each person to have a relationship with him.

BLACK – Romans 3: 23 “Sin is what separates us from God” – We choose to disobey God.
RED – Romans 5:8 “Jesus died on the cross”
WHITE – John 3: 5 “I tell you the truth; no-one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit”
Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
BLUE – Acts 2: 41 “Those who accepted his message were baptised, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
2 Peter 3:18 “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
GOLD – Colossians 1: 16 “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

Before the close of this joyful and inspirational service Tanna, Michael, Lerato and Sanele were baptised to the loud applause of the congregation!

We were encouraged by Lance to take time out for our children this holiday and spend valuable time with them, our greatest blessings. AMEN!

A Trip to Upington

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Written by Justine Engelbrecht
Upington

Upington

Marcus, Adele, Shane, Casper and the Life Team left for Upington on Wednesday the 16th to encourage Terry and Wendy Archibald’s church plant there. They arrived in time to join Terry and Wendy’s worship and bible study. The team was incredibly encouraged by how intense and earnest the group was, albeit a small one, and they enjoyed a profound worship time together.

Their visit to Upington allowed them to build relationships, share experiences and connect with the local youth, enabling them to enjoy an incredible time of team bonding. They were grateful for the opportunity to lead the Friday Youth where they shared their experiences and understanding, from which they received wonderful feedback.

On Sunday Marcus did the service and he spoke on the character of Peter and how he allowed Jesus to shape and mould him. He encourages us all to take a leaf out of Peter’s book and not to take offence. This was an incredibly inspirational time away which will remain as motivation for the group.

Lesotho: More Leaders Needed

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Written by Ryan Strydom

Map of Lesotho

On the weekend of the 11th to the 13th of November, Mark Meeske and a team of seven travelled to Lesotho for ministry – the last trip to Lesotho of the year (several happen in the year). It was fruitful and saw the team meet up with Motheo Makagnia, a man leading a church in Mafeteng. This is a new relationship and it was the first time that we worked together.

The team left the Cornerstone building at 1:30pm on Friday and arrived at Mafeteng at 7:30pm. After having dinner and enjoying each others’ company, the team got to work on the Saturday morning with some door-to-door evangelism. The Gospel was shared with many and people were invited to the Sunday service. Four teams went out, with the Cornerstone team splitting into two groups with an interpreter.

The afternoon saw the team encouraging and teaching local leaders and interpreters. It was a small group. They were encouraged and there was a lot of engagement around building effectively.

The team gelled well and the evening was spent relaxing and getting to know each other better. Sunday morning the team went to two different churches. Tim Potter preached at the one while Mark preached at the other. By all accounts it went well, there were some Gospel responses, and lots of people responded for healing. By 7:30pm on Sunday the team were back in South Africa.

But there are many challenges the church in Mafeteng is facing and these are prayer points to consider:

1) They’re currently trusting God for a piece of land. They’ve earmarked some land already but they need the finance to get it. Currently they meet in tents.

2) There are more leaders needed to do the work of the ministry. We are instructed to pray for more workers (Luke 10:2) so let us do so! They really need it.

3) General finances are always a challenge in Lesotho.
Consider going to the next Lesotho trip in early 2012. Talk to Mark if you’re looking for details or keep an eye (or ear) out on our usual communication channels.

Marco Broccardo – From gutter depths to mountain heights

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Seven Summit Adventurer; Marco Broccardo shared the vision placed in his heart at Cornerstone Central Cafe’ Evening on Sunday 20th November 2011.

One man’s journey, courage and faith can make a difference in the lives of others. Marco’s testimony of salvation is proof of this; from a downward spiral of drug abuse, crime, attempted suicide and seizures, he ended up in a Christian Rehabilitation centre and he gave his life to the Lord.

Thirteen years later, Marco is sharing his testimony to make a difference in the lives of drug addicts and their families, instilling hope and sharing with the world that discarded people can do and achieve great things.

Mark 11:23 I tell you the truth, if anyone says this to the mountain. Go throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart but believes what he says will happen; it will be done for him.

Drug abuse statistics in South Africa:

  • 15% of SA has a drug problem
  • Drug consumption in SA is twice the world norm.
  • Drugs costs SA 20 billion Rand a year and will pose a bigger problem than the Aids pandemic.
  • 60% of crime nationally is related to drug abuse, in the Western Cape the figure is close to 80%.
  • Uneducated children are addicted to drugs and this leads to desperation.
  • In 2004 the SA government disbanded SANAB and there is no replacement institute.
  • According to the UN, SA is one of the drug capitals of the world.

There are 272 000 000 million drug users globally with 8 new users ever second.

The Seven Summits initiative has taken 9 years to launch and demonstrates what can be achieved despite the odds. The team Marco, Alex, Kabelo and Mghabi are sending out messages of victory and hope.

Marco says, “no matter how big the obstacle in our lives we can overcome it, struggle is the struggle of life itself, upward and forever upward.”

The Seven Summits:

Kilimanjaro                          5892m

Carstens Pyramid                 4884m

Aconcacgua                         6962m

Elbrus                                  5642m

Denali                                  6194m

Vinson                                 6194m

Everest                                8848m

 

The message of the Seven Summit initiatives will:

Bring hope to the hopeless, encourage people to passionately pursue their goals, raise their sights and take back their lives, to live life to the best of their ability, dig deeper to discover untapped potential, brave the unknown, face their fears, reach new heights, break barriers and conquer their fears through faith.

Isaiah 35:10. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

The 7 Summits webpage is http://www.7summitchallenge.co.za.  Check out their gallery with video clips here.

Eric Tocknell – What is in your hands?

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Written by Anton Tjabring

The Exchange had a very encouraging time with Eric Tocknell on Friday 11 November. The challenge he posed is “What is in your hands ?” Moses had many excuses and reasons as to why God could not use him, but God asked him “What is in your hands?” and STILL used him. The challenge we have is not to look for excuses, but to use what is in our hands.

A little bit of delivery room chaos with three people giving their lives to Jesus, car park running out of space and not enough seating at the tables. Despite this the church was encouraged and built up and Jesus glorified. The ladies in the kitchen provided a wonderful warm breakfast as usual.  Thank you to all involved.